Authors and illustrators

As a child Sharon loved both wildlife and drawing and spent many happy hours drawing and modelling animals and creatures. After completing a botany degree and spending time abroad she returned to her love of art and now works as a full time illustrator. Sharon lives on the south coast and when not drawing loves to grow vegetables on her allotment and tend her garden.

Soofiya’s design practice centres around illustration, visual identity and book design, with most clients tending to be in the arts, cultural and activist sector. Soofiya’s art practice and writings aim to articulate a commentary on gender, race, politics and bodies through a DIY and therapeutically informed approach.

Soofiya has worked as a lecturer in design and arts at Universities and HE institutions nationally and internationally in the UK and Xiamen, China. Soofiya is currently an associate lecture at UAL on their MA Internet Equalities course as well as a sessional lecturer at Ravensbourne and Brighton University.

Shanda is a teacher and a mom. She has been reading to kids forever, it seems. Now that her daughters are in college, will she graduate to novels? Probably not. Shanda also likes to make things with yarn, beads and fabric – especially thrift store finds. She lives in Michigan, USA. She dreams of a sunny beach cottage, with as many cats as her husband will allow.

After graduating with a degree in English and Psychology, Sheryl Webster worked as a primary school teacher, before taking a career break to raise her young family. This gave her the opportunity to pursue her passion for writing. Sheryl lives in Liverpool with her family.

Simon is the award-winning author of the Saxby Smart and Jeremy Brown series. Simon’s ultimate dream is to go the moon, but in the meantime, he lives in Warwick with his wife and children and contents himself with writing in a tiny wardrobe and eating too much chocolate.

Sophia Bennett’s debut novel, THREADS, won The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition in 2009. She has since published six further novels for young teens, including THE LOOK and LOVE SONG. Sophia has been called ‘the queen of teen dreams’ by journalist Amanda Craig, for her exploration of the worlds of fashion, art and music. Her books have sold internationally to over 16 countries and there are plans to make THREADS into a TV series. Sophia lives with her family in Wandsworth, south-west London.